A wise man told me "All your problems will be solved one day.
But when that day comes you'll be dead.
" Then he laughed ecstatically.
If you're offended relax, he's absolutely right.
In my younger years I claimed to be the greatest problem solver of all time.
Yes, I was a tad bit arrogant.
Then one day I got tired of solving problems because it seemed every time I solved one another showed up to take its place.
So I renounced all problems.
This ended up being worse than claiming I was the greatest problem solver of all time.
Fortunately I found a fool proof way of addressing problems.
Today I take a different approach and embrace my problems.
I raise my hands over my head, look to the sky and say "Thank you for this problem, I know I'm going to learn something extremely valuable.
" The secret is to know which problems to embrace.
How do I know which ones to embrace and which ones not to? Good question.
It's really easy...
ask yourself, "Is this an actual problem I need to solve or something I created just so I could stay busy and claim I'm a problem solver?" Remember the goal is not to solve all of your problems, that only occurs when you are dead.
The goal is to stop creating problems just for the sake of solving problems.
In my previous jobs I sat in hundreds of meetings with people who know nothing about what I do, how I run my business, and supervise my staff.
Yet at almost every meeting certain people felt obligated to tell my superiors the problems I have and what I should be doing to solve them.
Since they didn't have a clue as to what I was doing they usually made up a problem so they could offer a solution.
This was typically followed by this person repeatedly patting themselves on the back and telling my superiors how well they did something 10 years ago in another life.
One conversation I had went as follows: -Person A: "We really need to be careful that problem a is not occurring.
" -Person B: "Do we have a lot of problem a going on?" -Me: "No, I haven't seen or heard about problem a in the last 2 years.
" Person A: "When I used to work at ___________, 10 years ago, problem a was HUGE.
We had to hire a special person just to address it and I supervised that person because it was important we do something about problem a!" Eureka! A self-created problem for the sake of solving problems.
It's really comical if you think about it.
It wasn't about being effective and efficient; it was about telling others how valuable they are.
I'm reminded of the quote from the classic book "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill.
"Tell the world what you are going to do, but show them first.
" When these meetings occurred it helped me to take a closer look at what kind of time Person A had on their hands.
I always noticed the following: 1.
Person A is always busy.
2.
They are always running from meeting to meeting 3.
They are always talking about the problems they have 4.
They are rarely making progress on projects that will improve their overall effectiveness and efficiency.
Facts are facts friends.
If you've got problems and I sincerely hope you do.
The wisest thing you can do to create more time in your day and ensure you are not BUSY solving unimportant problems is to ask yourself, "Is this an actual problem I need to solve or something I created just so I could stay busy and claim I'm a problem solver?" Now get going releasing unimportant problems and embracing the important ones.
But when that day comes you'll be dead.
" Then he laughed ecstatically.
If you're offended relax, he's absolutely right.
In my younger years I claimed to be the greatest problem solver of all time.
Yes, I was a tad bit arrogant.
Then one day I got tired of solving problems because it seemed every time I solved one another showed up to take its place.
So I renounced all problems.
This ended up being worse than claiming I was the greatest problem solver of all time.
Fortunately I found a fool proof way of addressing problems.
Today I take a different approach and embrace my problems.
I raise my hands over my head, look to the sky and say "Thank you for this problem, I know I'm going to learn something extremely valuable.
" The secret is to know which problems to embrace.
How do I know which ones to embrace and which ones not to? Good question.
It's really easy...
ask yourself, "Is this an actual problem I need to solve or something I created just so I could stay busy and claim I'm a problem solver?" Remember the goal is not to solve all of your problems, that only occurs when you are dead.
The goal is to stop creating problems just for the sake of solving problems.
In my previous jobs I sat in hundreds of meetings with people who know nothing about what I do, how I run my business, and supervise my staff.
Yet at almost every meeting certain people felt obligated to tell my superiors the problems I have and what I should be doing to solve them.
Since they didn't have a clue as to what I was doing they usually made up a problem so they could offer a solution.
This was typically followed by this person repeatedly patting themselves on the back and telling my superiors how well they did something 10 years ago in another life.
One conversation I had went as follows: -Person A: "We really need to be careful that problem a is not occurring.
" -Person B: "Do we have a lot of problem a going on?" -Me: "No, I haven't seen or heard about problem a in the last 2 years.
" Person A: "When I used to work at ___________, 10 years ago, problem a was HUGE.
We had to hire a special person just to address it and I supervised that person because it was important we do something about problem a!" Eureka! A self-created problem for the sake of solving problems.
It's really comical if you think about it.
It wasn't about being effective and efficient; it was about telling others how valuable they are.
I'm reminded of the quote from the classic book "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill.
"Tell the world what you are going to do, but show them first.
" When these meetings occurred it helped me to take a closer look at what kind of time Person A had on their hands.
I always noticed the following: 1.
Person A is always busy.
2.
They are always running from meeting to meeting 3.
They are always talking about the problems they have 4.
They are rarely making progress on projects that will improve their overall effectiveness and efficiency.
Facts are facts friends.
If you've got problems and I sincerely hope you do.
The wisest thing you can do to create more time in your day and ensure you are not BUSY solving unimportant problems is to ask yourself, "Is this an actual problem I need to solve or something I created just so I could stay busy and claim I'm a problem solver?" Now get going releasing unimportant problems and embracing the important ones.